Journal
SCIENCE SIGNALING
Volume 4, Issue 184, Pages -Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.2002225
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Funding
- NIH [RO1NS058505, RO1HL105949, U54GM74946]
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New evidence reveals that the common electrolyte disorder hypokalemia can induce K2P1 channels that are normally selective for K+ to break the rules and conduct Na+. This defiant behavior leads to paradoxical depolarization of many cells in the heart, increasing the risk for lethal arrhythmia. The new research resolves a mystery uncovered 50 years ago and bestows an array of new riddles. Here, I discuss how K2P1 might achieve this alchemy-through stable residence of the K+ selectivity filter in a Na+-conductive state between its open and C-inactive configurations-and predict that other K+ channels and environmental stimuli will be discovered to produce the same excitatory misconduct.
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